State Real Estate Commissions: the Name Game!
Did your real estate agent charge you a fee that you did not agree to pay? Did they hide important information from you, or change the contract in the middle of the negotiation?
If your problem is with your real estate agent, some states have an office dedicated just to this industry. It is called the Real Estate Commission. They provide the same service to you, the consumer, as a state regulator does.
Now it is getting a little confusing! Which office is best to contact, the regulator or the commission?
A Real Estate Commission is simply the name of an additional office that focuses on the real estate industry. If you believe your real estate agent represented something falsely or handled any of the real estate transactions in way that was illegal or unfair, your state may have an office that keeps tabs just on real estate agents, and that is the best resource for you. If you are contesting something that occurred with your lender, on the other hand, the regulatory office that oversees banks and lenders will be the one to defend your rights.
In states that have Real Estate Commissions, these offices oversee the licenses that are granted to real estate agents, and investigate complaints that consumers bring against agents. A real estate agent must have their license in order to stay in business. Therefore, if they are contacted by the commission about a complaint, they are motivated to settle it quickly.
If you have been treated unfairly by your real estate agent, or if you have reason to believe the agent has acted illegally, contact your Real Estate Commission. You can find a listing of commissions by state at the web site for the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO). Their web site is http://www.arello.org
The page with the listings of state commissions is:
http://www.arello.com/ArelloWeb/ShowPage?command=regAgencies#NorthAmerica
Sit Down and Talk it Out
Sometimes disputes can be resolved through mediation or arbitration. In this scenario, consumers and business people sit down with a neutral third party and try to settle the dispute in a way that feels equitable to everyone concerned. This can save time and money – and you may pick up a few conflict-resolution skills along the way.
Attorneys General – Don’t Litigate, Mediate
Attorneys General serve as legal counselors to state government agencies and legislatures and as representatives of the public interest. In other words, the Attorney General is not a private lawyer for individual citizens – but they can still help you.
In most states, the attorney general’s office provides a Mediation Unit. Mediators can intervene in disputes between you and the real estate agent, lender or contractor. The mediator will try to negotiate a mutually agreed-upon resolution.
If you decide not to choose mediation and have a complaint against a lender or a business, the Attorneys General office still needs to know. They have the authority to investigate business and trade practices and takes legal action on behalf of the state. They may not be able to resolve your specific situation, but they can try to prevent it from happening in the future.
Do Your Own Background Checks
The Attorneys General offices provide another service that can be a valuable resource as you make your real estate investment. They maintain a list of companies that have had complaints filed against them, so you can do a background check on a company before handing spending any time or money with them. The information can be found through the “consumer information” web page on the Attorneys General web site. If you need more information about the how to find out if a complaint has been issued against a company, you can also call the Attorneys General office in your state, or send them an email message from the web site.
The web site of the National Association of Attorney Generals (NAAG) provides a web page with the contact information of every state attorney general, as follows:
http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php
